Dairy’s Effect on America’s Wallet

Generating an economic impact of more than $628 billion, the U.S. dairy industry has a sizeable influence on today’s economy. The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) are teaming up to further this economic contribution.

Using the power of storytelling and widescale reach of social media, the ‘Got Jobs? Dairy Creates Jobs, Exports Create More’ campaign focuses on promoting the positive effects dairy has on the U.S. economy while sharing experiences from farmers, innovative dairy company employees and retailers. The campaign also highlights dairy economic statistics from each state and dairy’s impact on the national level.

Creating more than $39 billion in direct wages, dairy is responsible for $24.9 billion in state and local business tax revenues along with $39.5 billion in federal business tax revenues. Breaking this impact down on a state-by-state level, the campaign also illustrates how much dairy influences each state’s number of jobs, farms, exports and overall income.

With nearly 3 million workers in today’s dairy products industry, ‘Got Jobs?’ showcases how much a ripple effect dairy employees have on America’s wallet. Using the IDFA’s economic tool, Dairy DeliversSM, producers and consumers can track how much of an impression the dairy industry has on our pocketbook.

"As milk continues its journey from farm to table, it becomes a job-creation machine, employing farm workers, truck drivers, construction workers, factory workers, retailers and even cargo ship captains navigating the ocean to ports in fast-growing countries demanding more dairy than their own countries can produce," said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. "The United States is uniquely positioned to meet this growing global need, which allows U.S. dairy to provide opportunities for job creation and growth in the United States."

With labor becoming more of a concern across all sectors of the dairy industry, this campaign aims to promote job growth in the U.S. while also pushing for increased exports across the globe, providing valuable information on the industry’s effect on the economy.